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Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific Speculation Top-level theoretical physics, with its implicit acceptance of no fewer than 11 dimensions, attracts some staggeringly big minds in surprisingly thin...Faster Than the Speed of Light: The Story of a Scientific SpeculationNonfictionJoao Magueijo Top-level theoretical physics, with its implicit acceptance of no fewer than 11 dimensions, attracts some staggeringly big minds in surprisingly thin...2003-03-07

Top-level theoretical physics, with its implicit acceptance of no fewer than 11 dimensions, attracts some staggeringly big minds in surprisingly thin skins. No wonder this provocative new book is upsetting so many pointy-heads. Magueijo, a 35-year-old prof at London’s Imperial College, rails against petty jealousies in his field. He asserts that rave culture is not antithetical to intellectual insight. And, oh, he suggests Einstein’s special theory of relativity might have a fatal flaw: The speed of light, universally accepted as fixed and constant, might actually be (gasp!) variable. Unfortunately, so too is the presentation of these ideas. As a writer of clear prose, Magueijo is a fine scientist. Still, there are some mind-bending rewards for readers whose sense of mystery and wonder extends beyond why Trista chose Ryan.